As quick as they built that lead though, it evaporated and the Warriors wound up blowing them out at Chase Center. After the loss, Lakers head coach JJ Redick diagnosed what changed for his team.

“Start of the second quarter. It was a bad way to start the quarter just in terms of the turnovers,” Redick said on Spectrum SportsNet. “We had specifically said to that group and again in the second half to that group to start the fourth, that we didn’t want to bring X-5 into it. That we wanted to keep that guy out of it and they just kept bringing X-5 into it to start the second quarter and we kept turning the ball over.

“On top of that, we were 0-for-7 from 3. I thought we had some good looks that quarter. We were 3-for-8 at the rim with an expected of 6-for-8 at the rim. So some of it was shot-making. You saw that throughout the night. We started 8-for-14 (from 3) and got the lead, we go 3-for-25 the rest of the way and of course they had a hot shooting night.”

Redick took some accountability for the Lakers’ lack of organization offensively, which led to a ton of turnovers.

“We gotta be more organized. I’ll take some blame there,” he said. “But I thought as the game progressed, the problem solving and the connectivity, we just didn’t have it tonight and they got hot.”

Despite the round loss though, Redick is not panicking, understanding the team is still 4-2 and will take some time to gel with so many new players.

“Yeah. Look, we want to become a great team. You don’t become a great team in six games,” Redick said. “We want to become a great team after 82 games and have a chance to go compete for a championship in April, May and June. It’s a process to get there. But we are gonna be patient. There’s also, along with patience, doing what you’re supposed to do. And I think as we play more games together, we do more walkthroughs together, we watch more film together, do more practices together, that will all get better.”

JJ Redick on Lakers’ bench struggles

The Lakers starters did a nice job to build leads in both the first and third quarters. Unfortunately though, the bench unit was not able to hold onto it either time.

While it was a poor night for that group, Redick was willing to cut them some slack.

“It’s the sixth game, second loss, and those guys obviously helped us win the other night. They’ll be better,” Redick concluded.

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In a rematch from Opening Night, the Warriors got their lick back as they erased a big first-half deficit to earn a win. Unless the Lakers run the table in group play and dominate every game, they likely will not advance to the knockout stage of the Emirates NBA Cup.

Warriors 112, Lakers 95: key takeaways

Luka Doncic comes out firing

Lakers star Luka Doncic got into it with Warriors rookie Yaxel Lendeborg on Opening Night, and the latter continued his trash talk into his postgame media session.

He learned the hard way that Doncic is one of the top players in the league you don’t talk trash to, as he always takes his game to another level when that happens.

There was no doubt that Doncic was gonna come out firing in this one, and that is exactly what he did. Doncic got the Lakers out to a 17-5 start with the defense also locked in, creating four early Warriors turnovers.

Doncic had 21 points in the first quarter alone, outscoring the Warriors whole team as the Lakers kept pouring it on to take a 38-15 lead at the end of the first.

Warriors respond in second quarter

With Doncic on the bench, the Warriors responded with an 18-4 run to begin the second quarter, getting themselves right back in the game.

Austin Reaves and the Lakers were careless with the ball, while Stephen Curry and Georges Niang caught fire from deep. When Doncic returned, he tried to restore order, but everything kept going wrong for the Lakers and the Warriors came all the way back to tie it at 53 at the half.

Golden State outscored the Lakers 38-15 in the second quarter, which was the same score in the opposite direction in the first.

Warriors take control second half

The Lakers were able to regain momentum in the third quarter and built a nine-point lead. Doncic and Curry continued to lead their respective teams with some ridiculous shotmaking.

Again though, the Warriors responded with a run to take their first lead of the night and held the advantage going into the fourth quarter.

The Laker bench was awful all night, and that continued early in the fourth quarter. They had some silly turnovers and the Warriors took advantage to extend their lead to double digits.

In fact, Golden State ripped off an 18-0 run and effectively put the game out of reach before Doncic was able to come back in. The Lakers wound up scoring just 57 points in the final three quarters and turned it over 20 times on the night.

What’s next for the Lakers

The Lakers will now return home for a tough matchup with the Toronto Raptors on Sunday night, which is the first leg of a back-to-back with the Miami Heat coming to town on Monday.

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Whatever the holdup was, the Lakers sale is still on track as Ramona Shelburne of ESPN is reporting that Kushner met with Walter this week to finalize everything and assured him the full $12.5 billion valuation price tag will be met:

Los Angeles Lakers owner Mark Walter and Thrive Capital founder Josh Kushner have agreed on all outstanding terms of the sale of the team at a $12.5 billion valuation, sources close to the negotiations told ESPN.

The two men met in person Thursday at Walter’s home in Florida to finalize the transaction and are expected to sign the formal agreement soon, those sources said.

Once the agreement is signed, it will be reviewed by the NBA. That process generally takes some time as the league reviews financing and ownership structure.

Sources close to the negotiations said that Kushner has assured Walter he’s raised all the money necessary to complete the sale.

The NBA Board of Governors are set to meet in November, so if Kushner and Walter have the sale completed by then, the league will be able to vote to approve it.

As of now, it is only Kushner and Iger known to be involved in the sale, although they clearly will be bringing in some minority partners to help fund the massive purchase. Considering the Lakers are one of the most historic franchises in all of sports and are located in Los Angeles, finding people to buy in for a minority stake likely wasn’t that difficult.

Mark Walter explains decision to sell Lakers

Walter, who also owns the Los Angeles Dodgers, purchased his majority stake from the Buss family just one year ago at a $10 billion valuation, which was also a record at the time. With Walter’s insurance companies being investigated for potential financial improprieties though, he needs to come up with a lot of money quickly.

Kushner and Iger made him an offer he couldn’t refuse, which Walter recently explained was his primary reason for selling the team so quickly after buying it.

“We just received an offer on the Lakers that was quite a good offer,” Walter insisted, “that we decided we’d pursue selling it.”

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Unfortunately though, the Lakers will be without starting forward Ziaire Williams for the second straight game due to left foot injury management. He was originally listed as questionable but then eventually ruled out, along with Cameron Carr (right oblique strain) and Adou Thiero (left knee injury management).

Before the win over the Clippers, Lakers head coach JJ Redick did not seem concerned about Williams’ foot injury. It will be worth monitoring moving forward though after missing time in the preseason with the same issue.

In Williams’ absence, the Lakers will likely turn to either Quentin Grimes or Jake LaRavia in the starting lineup. Grimes would make more sense as a point-of-attack defender who can help chase around Stephen Curry.

Friday’s game is a rematch of Opening Night, when the Lakers pulled away in the second half to blow out the Warriors. Things got a bit chippy with Doncic and Warriors rookie Yaxel Lendeborg doing some trash-talking during and after the game. he Lakers star got the better of Lendeborg in his NBA debut with the easy win.

Lendeborg has already said he is looking forward to the rematch with Doncic, who undoubtedly is excited to get back on the court with the Golden State rookie after his comments last week.

Luka Doncic still working to find rhythm

Doncic is leading the NBA in scoring to begin the 2026-27 season and already has a 52-point game under his belt. But he still feels he is working to find his rhythm after taking so much time off in the offseason.

“I’m still getting there honestly,” Doncic said of his rhythm. “This is the first time I didn’t play basketball in six or seven months, which is a long time. So, I’m not used to it. So, I think I’m still getting there. But you know, today was a little bit better.”

Friday night would be the perfect time for Doncic to erupt offensively and lead the Lakers to another win.

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That didn’t stop the Lakers, however, as they dominated their crosstown rivals, walking away with a 16-point victory. Six players scored in double-figures, led by 23 from Quentin Grimes, who got the start in place of Doncic. And he feels the fact that the Lakers got a blowout victory is a testament to how good the rest of this roster is.

“It’s a testament to all the guys,” Grimes said after the game. “Everybody coming in with the right mindset, just coming in, not worried about trying to fill the void of Luka, try to make up 35, 40 points. Everybody came in, did it collectively, it was a testament to the team and just how we kind of collect each other and get the win.”

It took an entire team effort as not only did Doncic sit out, but the Lakers were also without another starter in Ziaire Williams. But it was the defense that led the way as the Lakers held the Clippers to just 87 points on 35% shooting.

“Yeah, I feel like defense is kind of contagious,” Grimes added. “We speed guys up, getting them out of their face and getting turned over, at least the easy buckets. I feel like it’s kind of changed the game, had everybody’s hands up.”

It was a great bounce-back game for the Lakers overall after they were defeated at the hands of the Portland Trail Blazers. But Grimes was proud of the team for moving past that and locking in the next night.

“I mean, easily winnable game last night, but a lot of missed errors on defense gave away so many points,” Grimes noted. “When you have a quick turnaround like this, you kind of flush that one from last night, get out here, come into our mindset and get back on track.”

A lot of teams could have carried the dejection of that first loss into the next game against an inferior team and been caught off guard. But the Lakers didn’t let that happen and they can now look to build back momentum in this early part of the season.

Lakers coach JJ Redick ‘pleasantly surprised’ by Matisse Thybulle

Another player who has been an important contributor for the Lakers so far this season has been Matisse Thybulle and head coach JJ Redick admitted he’s been ‘pleasantly surprised’ by the wing’s performance.

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